Technologies You Should Know if You Have Grocery App 2022

With the retail industry being transformed almost overnight by the sudden popularity of mobile apps, one of the many fields that have seen exponential growth is grocery delivery. Many SMEs and startups have shifted their grocery business online, providing their products through online orders instead of retailing them from a physical location. Before we get into the particulars of grocery delivery app development, though, let’s take a moment to talk about what these apps really are, how they function, and what features they present to users.

Exploring Grocery Delivery Apps

An Introduction to Grocery Delivery Apps

2020 wasn’t a kind year for the retail industry. While most retailers found themselves changing from a physical store to an online web-based store, the grocery industry found solace in mobile-driven retail mobility solutions.

That sounds a little… complicated.

Let’s try that in simpler words this time. Instead of buying groceries, people in urban and most semi-urban neighborhoods worldwide can now download a grocery app on their phones. These apps allow customers to go food shopping, order groceries online, and have their ordered products delivered right to their door.

Grocery delivery apps have primarily replaced traditional methods of going out to buy groceries. You’ll find many reasons for their popularity, but the simplest one is that they satisfy the grocery needs of customers from the safety and comfort of their own homes without requiring them to go out.

How Do Grocery Mobile Apps Work?

Grocery delivery mobile apps work the same way as any web store, with a couple of more steps. You’ll generally find virtually all types of groceries available on the app, and you can search for what you need using either a Search function or by using filters.

When customers find the products they need, these products are added to their cart, at which point the customer can either continue shopping to add more things to their cart or go for checkout.

The last step is to fill up your delivery details and choose your payment methods, ranging between online banking, cash on delivery, or other methods.

A Much, Much Simpler Breakdown

For those of you who like a point-based view, here’s a simple breakdown of the process:

• The user downloads the app and fills up some primary information fields.
• The user then makes an account using their email ID or mobile number.
• Let’s say that the user wants Item A. After finding Item A, the user adds it to their cart.
• If the user has added everything they need to their cart, they continue to checkout and provide the delivery address.
• The order request goes to the app’s Admin, who then forwards it to the grocery store manager.
• At this point, the manager either accepts or declines the order based on their stock.
• Regardless of which they choose, a notification is sent to the customer.
• If accepted, the manager generates the order, and Admin updates the status of the order.
• The order is then delivered to the customer.
• A second notification is then sent to both the customer and the Admin.

Types of Grocery Mobile Apps

The last topic we’re going to discuss before exploring grocery mobile app development is the various types of grocery apps. That’s right. There are several different types, differentiated according to how they operate.

When deciding on whether you should have a grocery app made for your grocery store, you have the following four options:

1.     Grocery Chain Store Apps

Everybody knows what chain stores are, right? The most commonly seen mobile grocery apps are chain store apps, which allow customers to order groceries from the nearest chain outlet near them. These apps also often enable a pickup option, where a customer can choose a chain outlet to pick up their groceries from, in addition to home delivery.

2.     Marketplace Apps

In most cases, you’ll see these apps operated by supermarket owners operating critical commercial centers. The owner arranges to transport the goods to the customer’s delivery address and usually promises to deliver the groceries quicker and fresher than chain store apps.

3.     Aggregating Apps

Aggregating apps work through geographical location instead of through a particular chain, franchise, or supermarket. These mobile apps first provide a list of grocers in the area and allow customers to pick the ones they want to buy. After selecting their goods and groceries, a customer fills out the payment method, and the store confirms their orders.

The primary thing is that responsibility lies with the particular store instead of the app itself.

Grocery Delivery App Development: The How, The What, And The Why Development Teams Behind Grocery Delivery Apps

People wanting to have a grocery delivery mobile app designed for their store will undoubtedly look for a trustworthy service that can provide high-quality grocery app development within an appropriate time frame. The dev teams themselves differ significantly, but in most cases, you’ll find these important figures:

●     Project Managers

The person is responsible for supervising the grocery delivery app project. The manager analyzes the project requirements, passes on relevant information to developers, and handles several other duties.

●     Mobile App Developers

A dev team working on the core development of your mobile grocery delivery app, with expertise in coding languages like Java and C++.

●     Front-End Developers

These guys handle the UI and overall design of your mobile grocery app. Usually, they prioritize making the Ui attractive and uncluttered.

●     Back-End Developers

Back-end developers handle the most complicated parts of the dev process: creating and sorting plugins, making arrangements for database management, deciding which APIs to use, and other features.

9 Must-Have Technologies for Grocery Delivery Apps

You know how popular grocery mobile apps are, and after all of that, we hope you know why as well. We’ve also discussed the core members of a dev team, so the next step is exploring the specifics of developing mobile grocery delivery apps.

However, many people miss out on the fact that a grocery app is a business. A business needs something to make itself popular, to make itself stand out. This comes in the form of convenient and user-focused features that keep customers ordering groceries from your services for grocery delivery apps.

To prevent the hour-long Google Search dive we know you’re thinking of right now, we’ve assembled a list of the top 9 Must-Have Features and Technologies for Grocery Delivery Apps. Check it out to know about various technologies and features to make your grocery app stand out:

1.     Intuitive Profile Creation

Like any other web store, grocery apps have to take steps to keep customers returning. A standard marketing tip is to make the shopping process personal for the customers, and what better way to do that than have an easy, quick, and above all, intuitive profile creation process?

Marketing and Customer Retention aren’t the only reasons that an intuitive profile creation process is necessary, though. Without profiles, it becomes hard to make and trace orders and file and process payments, to name a few.

2.     Enhanced Search Capability

By and large, grocery apps offer hundreds of different kinds of products. This means that while customers certainly have a variety to choose from, it’s also tough to find the exact product they want. An enhanced search feature helps the users find what they’re looking for within seconds by listing products according to the keywords or categories searched.

For example, your app should display types of cheese when customers search ‘cheese,’ along with related products like cheese-spread.

3.     Recommendation Sections

Recommendation sections are simple to understand: when a user purchases product A, the app stores the data under that user’s profile. The next time the user comes online, the app will recommend products and deals according to that data. This nifty feature saves customers a lot of time since they’ll commonly be ordering the same things they did last month.

You’ll see web stores and eCommerce sites using recommendation sections, and if you want your app to be successful, they are a quick way to improve the customer’s app experience hugely.

4.     Noticeable Add-to-Cart Option

If you’ve used eCommerce sites before, you know what an Add-to-Cart option is. Acting much like a trolley in actual grocery stores, a Cart allows customers to choose multiple products before making the order. A noticeable and easy-to-use Add-to-Cart option reduces the amount of time needed for adding individual products to the cart, further adding to the utility and convenience of your app.

You can even opt for additional features: for example, a bill display on your cart while on the shopping UI can help customers know when they’ve reached the end of their budget.

5.     Push Notifications!

Push notifications are an essential step in the grocery delivery app development process. You can send users updates about new products in stock, deals, and combo offers they might be interested in, and holiday discounts on different products. Several grocery apps that operate out of physical grocery stores also send users updates about events happening at their store.

6.     A Save-for-Later Feature

Let’s say that a user finds product A. They don’t need product A right now, or maybe it doesn’t fit in their budget. Either way, they’re interested in product A but can’t purchase it right now. Implementing a Save-for-Later feature allows customers to mark products they’re interested in. The next time the customer visits the app, they’ll be reminded about the product.

A Save-for-Later feature also helps with products that aren’t in stock. If product A isn’t in stock, customers can mark their interest in it and get a push notification when it’s in stock again.

7.     Optimized Payment Methods

When contracting a grocery delivery app development company, one of the first things you should be asking for is optimized payment methods. Simply put, there’s nothing customers hate more than not having a commonly available payment method available on a platform, whether it’s cash on delivery, credit/debit cards, or widely used e-wallets like UPI and PayPal.

A side note here is that you also have to ensure the privacy and security of these transactions. Using trusted APIs and reliable database management software helps you ensure a security breach doesn’t result in past transactions being leaked all over the Internet.

8.     Taking Customer Feedback and Reviews Into Account

Even if you got the best grocery app development company in India to develop your grocery app, everything starts imperfect. That’s a rule of life that only becomes more important when it comes to these apps. If you want to say you’re different from the hundreds of other apps offering the same groceries in the same regions, you must consider customer feedback and reviews. You, the owner, and the dev team can use the feedback to further improve the features of your grocery delivery app over time or even implement new features if there’s overwhelming demand.

There’s a lot of possible routes to gather customer feedback. You could have an official forum for customer suggestions or have a feedback box available after every successful order, which is the cheaper and more commonly used option.

9.     Live Order Tracking

Last but nowhere near the least is a Live Order Tracking feature, which customers say is one of the best features a grocery delivery app can have. It allows customers to keep an eye on the status of their order and when it’s been shipped to see where the driver is and how long he’ll take to get to the delivery destination.

Final Words: What Are the Costs Related To Grocery App Development?

We know that’s a big question, which is why we’re taking our time to answer and go with this: it depends entirely on the features and scale of the app you want. Several other factors are present here too, like the reputation and reliability of the company you choose. A developer that knows what they’re doing won’t overcharge you, but unless you do your proper research and choose a company guaranteed to give you the best results, you could easily get scammed out of your money!